carved table

Status
Not open for further replies.

stave

New User
stave
I know it is hard to visualize applications for the carving I teach in the beginning class so I decided to post a picture to help show an example.

The table is made from white pine. I sanded the top before doing any layout work. It is easier to do the bulk of the work beforehand than to try to sand around the design or re-carve areas you hit. It does dull the carving tools a little but it is easier to touch up sharpen than to touch up carving sometimes.

I used real maple leaves to layout the design and then drew the branches in place. I literally traced the real leaves. Using a 1/8" router bit cutting to a depth of 1/8" I free hand routed around the entire design. I shaded in the areas in between the leaves that I was going to route out, it is easy to miss places or route places out that should have been left so I mark them. The leaves and branches were then carved. Using small brushes the stain was applied.
The border was done using a router and guide with the same bit cutting to the same depth. Of course there was some touch up sanding to be done to clean up the staining. The leaves and branches were lightly sanded with 220 to accentuate the carving marks and to give more life to the carving. You cannot do this technique with a Minwax stain due to the heavy oil content. I used a pigmented wiping stain from Mohawk.
The table was finished with water white lacquer.

This design could have been outlined with a v tool just as well. I used a router to increase the outline size and the staining, basically for more drama. The carving of the leaves etc. was done just like those in the class.




Hope this helps to see the possibilities.

Mark
www.stromcarver.com
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Thanks for the example Mark. Not only is the carving beautiful, but I like the way you turned the edge banding out at the corners, instead of crossing over. :eusa_clap

Bill
 

stave

New User
stave
The design is mine and is made from 4 and 8/4 white pine with birch dowels that join the legs and form the magazine rack. The legs also have routed stripes on each side. The brown border is two routed lines with stain in between. I did not know how to do inlay then so this was my solution.

The legs are pretty beat up...kids using a vacuum cleaner. You know just hit the floor and everything else along the way. That is why the photos are taken the way they were to hide the bad areas.

Honestly, the carving is easy and fast. Two tools is all. Most of the real work is the finishing technique...you can add shadows or highlights, hide mistakes and create depth and roundness all through finishing...kinda like a real world photoshop.

Mark
 

richlife

New User
Rich
Beautiful, Mark! Do you use anything like a glass plate on top to protect the carving?

I have a chessboard I made with a router years back that has the squares inlaid into it. For years, I had constant problems keeping it clean (natural dust repositories) and then after about 20 years I finally cleaned it up real good and screwed a 1/8" sheet of plexiglas into the top to keep out the dust, grime and general wear. (This was about the time I decided I would give it with a set of chessmen to my young grandsons. :swoon: )

My chessboard is nowhere near as nice as your table top, so I was wondering about the protection.

Rich
 

stave

New User
stave
Rich,
I do have a piece of 1/4" glass on the top that was originally used to protect the table from my kids when they were young. I have done tops that do not have glass on them and have done this type of carving on corners etc as accent work. The carving is a great deal flatter than it looks and you can place a glass of water almost anywhere on the top without fear of it tipping over. Dust and grime is always a problem with carving of any kind. A paintbrush works to remove dust but eventually all carvings need more to keep them in more of an original condition.

Mark
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Premier Sponsor

Our Sponsors

LATEST FOR SALE LISTINGS

Top